The trend of haulers getting customers to help cover the costs of recycling on to consumers continues to develop.
In the latest example, Gallegos Sanitation Inc., has approached the town of Fort Collins, Colo., about the possibility of charging customers a temporary fee for curbside recycling.
With a drop in international demand for recyclables such as cardboard and plastics, the center began charging haulers a fee to dump recyclables in January. Previously, the center paid haulers for materials.
GSI paid more than $300,000 in tipping fees for recyclables through June, company officials stated in an email to the Coloradoan.
Last year, the center paid haulers about $20 a ton for materials, according to GSI. The center is operated by Waste Management under a contract with the Larimer County Solid Waste Department.
Tipping fees at the center are directly tied to the commodity market for recyclable materials and the value of materials coming into the center, stated Waste Management spokeswoman Isha Cogborn in an email. Recycling isn’t free, she added.
“As long as there is a deficit between processing fees and the value of the material being collected, there will likely be a tip fee passed along,” she said.